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Brian Keene's last few novels have steered him away from what had been his bread and butter tale. He was king of the zombies but his last few have ventured into more daring waters and as always, he has succeeded.
DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN is his "THE MIST" story. He actually references KINGS tale in his own. It also kind of mirrors KING'S latest UNDER THE DOME as these three tales all tell a similar story of average folks caught up in extraordinary circumstances and how some rise to the occasion and other sink to the depths of horrible depravity.
KEENE has always had and continues to have an uncanny ability to draw very believable and very deep characters very quickly. Within the first few pages we meet most of the principals involved in the tale and we actually give a shit about what happens to them. Some authors tell whole stories without me giving two shits about what happens to those in their tale, Keene manages to hook me immediately and paces the action just enough that I can't put the story down till I know their outcome.
DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN is told journal style. It is basically a memoir that our main character is leaving behind as he and those with him venture out to try and escape the unthinkable happenings that have been occurring. He is leaving it behind as testament to their plight and also as a road map for any other survivors that might happen upon it.
Robbie is our lead character. He's a pizza delivery driver and he lives with his girlfriend Christy in Walden, Virgina a nice little town until the day that they wake up and find the town surrounded by darkness. Like nighttime, yet not. Nothing works, the electric is out, the cable is out, cell phones don't work. Confusion is the first order of the day as the town wakes up and realizes that while morning, it is still night time out. The fact that none of utilities work and no one outside of the town can be reached quickly adds to the hysteria and shortly all hell is breaking loose. We meet Robbie's loose circle of friends comprised mainly of those that live around him in his apartment building and the story of the DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN quickly unfolds.
It is found out that just beyond the town limits the darkness is much thicker and much deadlier. There is something in that darkness but no one can tell what it is but it's not good. Anyone who ventures past the town lines are swallowed up and never seen again although their screams are heard. It's actually damn creepy.
The bulk of the story revolves around Robbie and his friends attempting to find out what the hell this darkness is and how to get away from it. It appears that a homeless bum named DEZ holds the only answers and no one is listening to him cause he's the town nut ball.
Madness ensues, people die and the darkness remains. As always seems to be the case in these types of stories, folks take sides and the wacko's always seem to find one another and they always make it hard on the ones trying to find a real solution. Nothing different this time around.
While the tale my be a bit rehashed nothing is ever quite the same when it's in the hands of Keene and he certainly adds his "flair" to the proceedings with his non stop action and ability to take even the most over used cliche and make it all his own. While the story may seem twice told you have not yet heard it till you've heard Keene tell it.
DARKNESS is a solid, tight, well written creep fest that further solidifies Keene's ranking as one of the major forces in horror literature. If you're not reading Keene than you are a damn fool.
DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN is available now anyplace you find good horror.
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